Oregon’s heat pump rebate program aimed at adding energy-efficient heating and cooling devices in rental homes is set to reopen. The popular program ran out of cash in less than a year when it first launched.
The Oregon Department of Energy will reopen its Rental Home Heat Pump program on Tuesday, after receiving an additional $4 million.
The program provides rebates to landlords installing heat pumps or related electrical updates to their residential rental properties, including rented rooms, houses, apartment buildings, manufactured homes and recreational vehicles. It’s helping a group of people left out of many federal programs paying for the renewable energy transition — renters.
FILE - The basement of a home in Portland, Ore., is equipped with ductless mini-splits, Dec. 1, 2022. A state program that reopens Tuesday will offer rebates to landlords who install mini-splits or traditional heat pumps in rented houses, apartments, rooms, manufactured homes and recreational vehicles.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“We’re thrilled to continue this incentive program that brings comfort and potentially life-saving heating and cooling to rental spaces,” state Department of Energy Director Janine Benner said in a statement.
In 2022, the Legislature issued a one-time $15 million allocation for the program, but those funds ran out before the program reached its one-year anniversary, said Duard Headley, energy incentives manager for the state agency.
“In just a little under a year, the program issued approximately $15 million in rebates for about 3,000 heat pump installations across the state,” Headley said.
The additional funds allocated by the state Legislature in 2024 are an indication of the importance and popularity of the program, he said, but those funds could be exhausted in the next couple of months.
“There’s a clear high demand. We’ve talked to a lot of contractors. I personally talked to quite a few who are already prepared to submit their reservation. They already have customers lined up,” he said. “We expect that money to be exhausted, likely before the end of the summer, extending into early fall at the latest.”
The program was created in 2022 after extreme high temperatures from the 2021 heat dome event killed at least 96 Oregonians. As the climate crisis continues, Oregon summers are getting hotter, and intense heat waves are occurring more frequently for longer periods of time. A study conducted by the Oregon Department of Energy earlier this year found that many of the state’s most vulnerable people, like those living in manufactured dwellings, mobile homes and recreational vehicles, lack sufficient cooling equipment in their homes.
Now, the state has designed a program aimed at helping tenants have access to energy-efficient heat pumps, helping to fill a gap in the renewable energy transition.
Rebates for the program vary based on the type of heat pump — traditional or mini-split — if there are needed electrical upgrades and if the tenant is considered low- or moderate-income.
Landlords can get up to $5,000 for installing an energy efficient heat pump to a house. For a manufactured dwelling or RV, incentives can go as high as $7,000.
Headley said from contractors to landlords to tenants, the overall response has been positive.
“It is really valuable to all Oregonians,” he said. “It helps us progress on our overall energy goals and it really benefits a wide, diverse group of people in the state.”
So far, the program has funded heat pump unit installations in at least 22 counties across the state.
Headley said it’s too early to tell if more funding will be allocated in the next biennial budget process.
Interested Oregon landlords can contact an approved program coordinator, located on the state Department of Energy’s website, to reserve rebates.